MENA nations making rapid progress on climate technology
Sustainability and carbon-neutral businesses have finally become the mainstream and the Middle East is now on board. This time last year, the London School of Economics published a report stating that people in Kuwait, and the Middle East in general, had little understanding of climate change, with it not being covered in school curriculums. And while there were laws in place, they were not enforced, with companies more likely to pay fines than implement expensive methods to cut carbon emissions. The lack of momentum came from a lack of understanding that climate change will have a very real impact on us and our lifestyles, and within our lifetimes.
But Middle East and North African countries have come a long way since. The COP27 climate change conference will take place in Egypt this month and will discuss sustainable solutions to the economic and humanitarian challenges facing the world. The 2015 COP21 in France saw 196 countries sign the legally binding Paris Agreement to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius, and ideally to below 1.5 C, submitting their “nationally determined contributions” on how they would achieve this and contribute to a climateneutral world by 2050. Just last week, Saudi Arabia hosted the 6th Future Investment Initiative conference, with a theme of “Invest in Humanity,” which had a strong focus on sustainability. “Net-zero carbon” and the “circular carbon economy” are the new buzz phrases, with businesses making real commitments to realize change, but is it enough?
Ahead of the game, unsurprisingly, is Sweden, which has made a legally binding national pledge to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2045. Considering that five of the world’s 10 biggest per capita carbon-emitting nations are in the Gulf Cooperation Council, it is vital that we not only follow Sweden’s example, but that we lead.
We know that there will be a direct impact on our well-being if no changes are made, but if we as a region are to economically survive the changing world, we must diversify our modes of income away from oil. There is a strong push toward building a thriving, modern, eco-aware tourist industry and modern, high-tech eco-cities. To secure international investment and engagement in these projects, carbon-neutral and sustainable credentials are a must. Most of the GCC nations have clear, time-bound commitments, with a few still lagging behind in setting the specifics. The best way is for large corporations and governments to use their resources, experience and knowledge to engage young entrepreneurs, who are fresh with enthusiasm and bright ideas on how to incorporate technology and new thinking.
The UAE is making great strides with new projects to produce solar and nuclear energy to help achieve its pledge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 23.5 percent by 2030. It also plans to use 44 percent renewable or clean energy and have a carbon-neutral economy by 2050. Saudi Arabia plans to be carbon neutral by 2060.
There is a strong drive in the Middle East to invest in green hydrogen, which is a very efficient method of storing energy once it is generated, although it is relatively expensive to generate. Oman, the UAE and Saudi Arabia already have plants initiated or planned. Scientists at the UK’s Imperial College London believe it is viable to fully run a city on renewable/clean energy, but it would require a combined approach, using several sources in a system, such as nuclear, wind, solar, green hydrogen or wave, to ensure a full, continuous supply in a cost-effective manner.
With large expanses of desert, Middle Eastern countries can really use their natural resources to their advantage to create green hydrogen and solar power stations. The issue with new forms of energy generation is how they can be applied to the technology in which they are needed, i.e., development would be required to integrate more electric energy, rather than oil or gas. Alongside this is a joint venture by Kuwait, the UAE and Qatar to develop carbon sequestering initiatives.
In April, the FII published an article summarizing data from the International Energy Agency, assessing the energy efficiency of employees working from home once a week, now that this has become more common since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. It compared the additional home energy consumption versus the energy saved from not commuting. It found there was a net energy saving of 8.5 million tons of fuel and 24 million tons of carbon dioxide if 20 percent of employees worked from home once a week. However, it reported that, while this was worthwhile and reduced carbon emissions, companies should work on reducing their overall carbon footprint and energy consumption as a workplace, as this resulted in the largest impact.
The FII conference put discussions on sustainability and the circular carbon economy high on the agenda. It was pointed out that ethanol from sequestered carbon had already been used as fuel in an airplane flight from Orlando to London.
It was also discussed that nongovernmental organizations should be involved with helping businesses implement sustainability measures. There certainly needs to be a central source of information, guidance and perhaps auditing to share knowledge about what has worked and how sensible measures that are uniform across all businesses, along with legislation to back up these measures, can guarantee change.
The FII was a positive run-up to COP27 and it has hopefully inspired governmental, business and community leaders in the Middle East to engage with their colleagues and teams to look at what discussions and actions they can bring to the upcoming conference in Egypt. Governments need to support entrepreneurs with ideas for pioneering technologies or routes to implementing them. It is good to see the MENA region not just engaged in these discussions, but also implementing real routes to meeting Paris Agreement targets with investments in circular carbon economies, leading change and using their natural resources to generate clean, renewable energy for sustainable new cities and potentially wider uses too. The next step is for all nations to truly work together to share best practices and knowledge for both technological
Middle Eastern countries can
really use their natural
resources to their advantage to create green hydrogen and solar power
stations
After 44 years of being forced to wear the hijab, they are now
saying in the open what they have always
believed